mercoledì 18 marzo 2015

Russia, the main supplier: Algeria, the biggest importer of arms in Africa

The states of North Africa - Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya - have consistently increased their military spending between 2003 and 2012 shows the note of analytical research and Information Group on Peace and Security (GRIP), a center of independent research company located in Belgium. According to data from the database on arms transfers Stockholm Institute for Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), cited by the author of the note Simon Pierre Boulanger Mars, North Africa has seen its import volumes of conventional weapons rose by 87.9% between 2003-2007 and 2008-2012.
Algeria and Egypt are the largest importers of weapons in the region with 43.8% and 36.2% respectively in the volume of purchases of weapons, followed by Morocco (18.1%), Tunisia (1.2%) and Libya (0.6%). In a decade, Algeria has moved 22-6 ° largest importer of weapons in the world, while Morocco has shifted from 69 ° to 12 °. The armed forces modernization programs Algerians and Moroccans largely explain this escalation, says researcher GRIP also advancing "issues related to the porosity of borders, the fight against terrorism and transnational smuggling of goods and people" as reasons for the strong growth of transfers weapons to North Africa.
Russia, the main supplier

Weapons imported from the countries of North Africa are mainly from Russia with 49% of arms exports in the region, followed by the United States, which gets 27, 8% of the market. In a global context, the members of the European Union (EU) accounted for 15.8% of exports of conventional arms in North Africa, but their transfers in the region increased by 171.8% between 2003 and 2012. "The desire to influence and economic interests and the fight against terrorism and illegal trafficking of all kinds, and illegal immigration were often the reasons given to justify the transfer of weapons from EU Member States to the region," says GRIP analysis note.

Lack of transparency in defense matters
"The states of North Africa are proving to be very transparent in the defense sector," notes the researcher GRIP, which indicates that they are involved in a limited way for the UN Register of Conventional Arms. Algeria and Morocco and have never submitted a report to the United Nations initiative. Egypt and Libya are no longer transmitted data respectively from 1993 and 1998, Tunisia has provided a report that on two occasions in 1993 and 2010.